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Valdez report

I got to Valdez today but because of a mechanical problem I had to leave the boat at home so it's shore fishing for me. I drove over to Allison point late this evening to see what's happening and two guys I talked to said it was slow. I did see some jumpers around and there are a lot of fish at the weir but the biggest action was when a sow and two cubs put in an appearance not far from the weir and it got better when momma spotted another bear and started chasing this one away from the cubs. Total kodak moment and the wife was thrilled.

I'm going to go over to Allison tomorrow during the day and see if I can catch one or two or three.

pinks

If it is the pinks that you are looking for just pull off the side of the road before you hit the corner before the weir - at high tide they will be in the flats in the shallows right against the bank - anything with hooks should get you some fish.

A Little Confused?

Ok we are headed to Valdez in a couple days. Plan on going to Allison Point for some pinks. Now I know Allison Point but you talk of the weir...what is a weir? That's got to be around the hatchery isn't it? I'm not familiar with the term. Please explain

The weir is under the bridge at the hatchery. It is the jail cell series of pipes set across the stream. It prevents the returning fish from getting up into the powerhouse. The hatchery pulls the fish they need for their egg take and the rest just beat themselves against the weir until they die. The lucky ones are caught by fishermen before they get to this point.

Been watching the fishing action at high tide at the point the last couple days and they are pulling fish out just as fast with hook & line as we were doing last week with dipnets on the Kasilof. I'd hardly call it slow.

i was there a couple weeks ago and it was slow but the best time for getting them was 1-2 hours before high tide at the solomon gulch parking area, it was strange but they seemed to taper off with the rising tide

Did some fishing today for about 4 hours and brought 8 or 9 fish to the bank. Only kept one of them though as I was just having fun fishing. I don't know if the fishing was good or bad for Valdez as I've never fished here before.

First place I fished was just before Solomon Gulch and it was good until about one hour after the tide started coming in. Then it just died. I moved up to Allison point and everyone there was hooking up but then it more or less died right before high tide.

I took the family down there this last weekend. We fished primarily by the boat ramp at the end of the parking lot. The best time was the evening tides 2 hours prior right up to high tide. They were pooling up right in front of the ramp and into the rocks. I used a russian river fly and a split shot about 24-30 inches from the fly and hooked into 20-30 fish. I also used pixies and vibrax, but I got the most hook-ups with the flies.

Just got back again, fished most the day at Allison Pt on Friday. People were catching fish nonstop, pinks everywhere. We limited out. People next to us somehow had about 30 on a stringer. But pretty much before and after the weir, at low and high tide, people are throwing and reeling in fish, its a blast. Watch for the bears though, they will walk wherever and whenever.

Just got back again, fished most the day at Allison Pt on Friday. People were catching fish nonstop, pinks everywhere. We limited out. People next to us somehow had about 30 on a stringer. But pretty much before and after the weir, at low and high tide, people are throwing and reeling in fish, its a blast. Watch for the bears though, they will walk wherever and whenever.

I'll second all that. I caught a few near Solomon gulch and then moved up to the point and caught a few more before I had to leave. On the way out I spotted several people standing by their car looking out towards the water and as I was driving up, the sow and two cubs came up onto the road behind and a little further down the road from them. I pulled in between the people and the bears, told them to peek over the top of my truck and then get the heck back into their car. Several pairs of really big eyes developed and they hot footed it back into the vehicle. The sow and cubs pretty much ignored the whole thing though.

Now that I've had a chance to check out Valdez, I might have to take my boat in August to chase silvers. Is late August a good time for them there?

Yesterday evening, a line of folks fishing along the west side of A-point didn't even seem to notice when a bear came out of the stand of trees on the corner going into the terminal, walked down on the beach, snatched a fish out of the ocean about 50 yards down from the last fisherman, walked back up into the trees and ate his dinner. I don't think any of the guys standing on the beach even saw the bear as they are so focused on their fishing. There are at least a half dozen blacks and a grizz hanging out between A-point and Solomon. Folks need to pay attention to their surroundings when fishing late at night or early morning.

I think the funniest one ever was last summer when a guy was walking down the trail to the beach on the west side of A-point and the grizz was walking along the top of the beach from the terminal heading toward that trail very early in the morning. Neither had seen each other yet. The guy is half way down the trail when the bear rounded the bottom and started up the trail. Both of them stopped and looked at each other for a couple seconds. Then the bear just keeps walking up the trail like he has somewhere to go. The guy is standing there frozen in place with his tackle box and fishing pole. The bear just walks right past him, within petting distance, and goes up into the parking lot. Guy doesn't move for a couple minutes. Then I think he had to go change his shorts. Funny stuff.

Holy cow! And he didn't take off running? Either great self control or frozen in fear.

Was that the trail that heads down right next to the "do no enter" signs for the terminal? The wife and I walked down from the parking lot just east of that one and she actually asked me what we were going to do if a bear came up the trail. My answer was, "we will PROBABLY pee our pants, we will DEFINITELY not run."

The guys who saw it from the terminal were getting ready to run over there to save the guy from the bear malling that they thought they were about to witness. It was pure amazement when the bear just trots right past the guy and on up the hill. There was a lot of, "Holy $!@#, do you believe that?"

And yes, you're talking about the right trail. From the "no parking" signs where everyone parks angling down toward the terminal. The grizz is actually sticking over by the hatchery right now, but there is a black sow with 2 cubs around the point to be very watchful for. She's been agressively running off other bears and I'd hate to see what would happen if a tourist got in her way. Wouldn't be pretty.

Watch out for the bears!

We just returned from the Pink Zone also. Good weekend, not really fishing but great for the kids!

We hit low tide about 11:30 pm and started taking Pinks when a 3 year old Griz started making his way up the mud flats to the hatchery. We were about 1/3 of a mile out on the mud flats and kept an eye on him and made the decision to head back to the truck and avoid the bear. We were cleaning fish near the stream at the hatchery when my kids looked up and the 3 year old appeared from behind the hatchery standing on all 4s. He made a dead charge/rush a crossed the stream and we dropped the fish and knives and did a Jessie Owens to the truck. The Griz made it to our pike of fish in less than 10 seconds and we watched from the truck as the tourist headed to the stream to get that perfect pic of the bear, nut jobs! The bear wandered off and we headed down to claim out knives and see what was left of the filets. That darn bear sucked up all of the eggs and left the fish. I think he has done this before!

All in all a nice weekend with lots of fish landed and a close encounter of the brown kind!

Fed bear is a dead bear

Heard an unconfirmed rumor today, from an Alyeska security guard, that a brown bear was put down for aggressive behavor just the other day. Saw one at the hatchery this morning surrounded by fools with cameras. Give them room and toss fish waste into the water, he probably got habituated by people cleaning their fish and leaving the mess on the rocks and bike path, by the time you came by he already had bad habits.

On the fishing side though we caught some rock fish in the narrows last night, no sign of silvers yet......

Heard an unconfirmed rumor today, from an Alyeska security guard, that a brown bear was put down for aggressive behavor just the other day. Saw one at the hatchery this morning surrounded by fools with cameras. Give them room and toss fish waste into the water, he probably got habituated by people cleaning their fish and leaving the mess on the rocks and bike path, by the time you came by he already had bad habits.

On the fishing side though we caught some rock fish in the narrows last night, no sign of silvers yet......

Sounds great. I'm heading there with my Dad tomorrow night just to go, maybe catch a few pinks. Might take the ferry back to Whittier just for fun. I'd bring fly rods but I don't want to use them in salt water. By the way how come everyone that takes a picture is a fool? I guess I'm a fool, but if I see bears I'll be taking pictures for sure. I won't be giving any bear hugs, but I'll certianly get the camera out.

Bring your rain gear

I heard the pink run is small and judging from what i've seen in the past it is. However they have not allowed any commercial fishing so there are plenty for the anglers. Lots of rain...
The fools are the ones who crowd the bear ie; 20 feet away with no outlet for the bear. Like i saw today. I like to photo wildlife also but use a long lens.

Heard an unconfirmed rumor today, from an Alyeska security guard, that a brown bear was put down for aggressive behavor just the other day.

I can confirm that this rumor is just that; rumor. The PD is trying to make a case to take down this brown bear, but it is still very much alive and running around the area. If all the idiot tourists would keep clear of this bear, it will live. If they keep having encounters with it, it will be shot by the PD.